Neither more nor less

Not that rats are not ubiquitous in Tompkins Square Park today : come sundown in TSP... rats rule . Today it is just that they are not seen much in the company of humans , especially in the day-time , that makes the sighting of a rodent/human pair a scene worthy of a photograph .

Rats were in the past a common East Village pet rivaling pitbulls in rank as the most preferred of pets . Of course there were those humans who prefered snakes , ferrets , lizards or even certain insects but unlike these runners-up companions the rat was a truly dominant player in the realm of interspecies partnerships .